$10k for a viking seems a bit crazy to me. They are perfectly fine spas on the low end but if you're willing to drop $10k there are just so many other options out there that I can't imagine picking a viking.

As for the sarena bay, I think the loungers are very similar to those in the amore but the the rest of the spa is going to be significantly different. Honestly, I don't like the way the sarena has those very enclosed seats. They feel kinda weird. I absolutely love the amore though. It may very well be my favorite overall spa out there.

They are attempting (a horrible horrible idea in my opinion) to go 'higher end' One of their reps roped me in their booth a couple months ago at the Pool & Spa show in Vegas and was trying to get me to order a truckload...multiple pumps, more lights, stereos, more jets, fancy proprietary sub-structures, etc. problem is they are still using thermo plastic or whatever it's called for their shells which for YEARS have had fading and other issues. If guys in the industry saw the current 2019 wholesale price list you wouldn't believe your eyes, you simply CANNOT compete with acrylic around that 10k price point using a plastic shell like they do, hence why I feel it's a bad idea for them..just my opinion of course.

Too me it's like Nordic trying to manufacturer and sell a spa that retails for 10k....why? you have an amazing business model already, why try to fix what's not broken?

Sounds like we met with the same guy in Vegas. I was shocked at some of there wholesale procing

Logged

Hot Tub Forum

I looked a bit but wasn't very impressed. There are just too many other options in that range for me to consider them. I didn't look at pricing though. Do they still do that stupid pro-rated warranty stuff? To me it's just dishonest to represent having an "industry leading 6 year warranty" that in reality is worse than some mid tier spa warranties. Dishonest business practices are a pet peeve of mine,

The tests went well today. Happy with both tubs. Only 3 questions coming out of it - hoping someone here might be able to help:

1. The older Sarena Bay we got to look at did not have hand/wrist jets in the two recliner seats. The Amore Bay did. Do newer Sarena Bays have them? From photos on their site, Iím thinking ďnoĒ - but if the Sarena is the flagship, it seems odd that the Amore would have these and Sarena would not.

2. Similar to the question above - no foot jets for the Sarena Bay we saw (present in the Amore Bay, though). So newer Sarenas have foot jets? The main ones we loved in the Amore were the 2 in each of the recliners and the one massive one for the bench seat (so a total of 5). Same thoughts as above re:flagship model not having as many jets/features as Amore (confused).

3. Is one recliner in the Sarena shallower than the other (his and hers), similar to how the Amore is? It was too hard to tell dry, but loved that in the Amore.

Reading this, youíd think ďjust go with the Amore!Ē And we might. But, we like the layout of the Sarena better, and also like that it has a few extra ďpremiumĒ seats. The one seat is basically a huge bowl that hugs you - I had been hoping for that in all of our searching so far.

Thanks for the insights!

Oh one other thing - I did confirm that if you donít like the fountains, you can swap them out to be the babbling brooks or whatever that one is called. It took me all of 30 seconds while in the tub

It's been years, but the layout, the foot jet, the wrist jets, price. It's been awhile and I don't recall the specifics. I just remember thinking that it was our favorite model and what we chose to display.

You always have to modify what the manufacturer calls out relative to how many people the spa is designed for. My hot tub was always filled with kids when mine were younger which is why I always preferred an open-seated model because kids aren't interested in just sitting a seat and relaxing, they are constantly moving. The Serena is not open much at all (are those side seats even very usable) while the Amore is at least open on that one end. If this is meant to be a family spa and there are kids going in it I think the Amore is a much better setup.

You always have to modify what the manufacturer calls out relative to how many people the spa is designed for. My hot tub was always filled with kids when mine were younger which is why I always preferred an open-seated model because kids aren't interested in just sitting a seat and relaxing, they are constantly moving. The Serena is not open much at all (are those side seats even very usable) while the Amore is at least open on that one end. If this is meant to be a family spa and there are kids going in it I think the Amore is a much better setup.

Agree - they market tubs for X people and realistically it is always X-1 or X-2 people.

I had thought the same about the seating when looking at photos, but in the dry test, we were surprised to see the bench seat in the Sarena Bay seat 3 people while we considered the Amore Bay bench to seat 4. So our thought was you gain 2 more quality adult seats in the Sarena at the expense of one kiddo bench seat.

The foot jets and hand jets though... ugh! What are they thinking with that? Why did they hold back on the Sarena?

Leaning towards the Sarena. The Amore just seems like we will be limited to exactly one seat for each of us. The bench seat was fine for kids, but not much therapy going on there/donít see myself really enjoying that seat.

The Sarena has quite a few options to sit in, while also offering the bench for kids.

Of course, as I write this, my feet are aching... may just have to get over that though :-/

Dealer is putting a clock on the order, saying prices jump by 6-8% if we do not place our order before his next order to D1 goes through. His next order goes in this Thursday. Tick tock!

He also said the two recliner seats are identical in the Sarena Bay - is that correct? I was thinking that one was deeper than the other for a "his and hers" effect (like in the Amore Bay) - are they actually both identical depths?

Dealer is putting a clock on the order, saying prices jump by 6-8% if we do not place our order before his next order to D1 goes through. His next order goes in this Thursday. Tick tock!

He also said the two recliner seats are identical in the Sarena Bay - is that correct? I was thinking that one was deeper than the other for a "his and hers" effect (like in the Amore Bay) - are they actually both identical depths?

He probably needs another tub to get his shipping rate down on his next load...NO manufacturer raises prices 8% in 1 year so unless he's raising HIS prices it's just him creating some 'urgency' (Not to mention if he's ordering the spa it is a 2019 so you're already getting the New Model Year pricing when he quoted it to you originally)